Below the Surface
by The Captain Carrot
Summary: Jaya Dusk has always been different, and because of this, she has often been chased from town to town by angry mobs and hated by most. But when Charles and Erik show her the truth, she must decide who she really is and what she's willing to do to be on the team. Starts out in First Class. Please read and review. P.S I'm really bad at summaries
1. Chapter 1

Part One:

A/N: I have never actually read the comic books. I've only seen the movies. I will try to read the comics though. I don't own anything from X men except Jaya Dusk. She's mine and you can't have her. Or her power. Ok maybe her power, but you can't copy me OK? Ok. Glad we understand each other. Enjoy and please please please PLEASE REVIEW! :)

Chapter 1: The Hunt

Jaya Dusk looked out over the dry valley full of sagebrush. It was a cloudless night and the crescent moon was shining down on her. Here, in the darkness, she was the strongest. She felt the darkness seep into her skin and rejuvenate her. She sighed happily. She wished it could always be night. Shouts of anger in the distance interrupted her peaceful state of mind. She looked back and saw flashlights searching for her in the darkness.

Jaya scowled and said to herself, "They never learn." She watched them for a bit and watched their lights getting closer to her. She felt the brightness of one of the flashlights shining against her face. They had found her. Jaya turned on her heel and started to sprint away from the lights. The owner of the flashlight shouted to the rest of them, and they took up the chant, "Kill the witch. Kill the witch."

Jaya scowled as she ran. As they approached, she saw that this was no ordinary mob, which would usually consist of twenty teenagers who felt like taking out their hormone-powered rage on someone who was an easy target. But there were hundreds of them, and they were all advancing towards her. But the most frightening thing was that two dozen of them held rifles.

The mobs were usually meant to drive her out of whatever town she happened to be in, but this mob's sole purpose seemed to kill 'the witch', meaning her. Of course she could try to kill them all, but it was dubious that she could kill all of the people with guns before one of the bullets found her. She thought about all of this as she ran away from the mob. Thank god they weren't in range yet. Her only hope was to get to town. She might lose them there. Jaya dashed past the sign that said, 'Welcome to Grandel.' and kept on running, the mob on her heels. Just as she began to tire, she saw the lights of the little town ahead. She broke into a sprint, but the lights from the mob were getting closer, and then the guns started going off. Jaya screamed in terror and dived behind a car that was parked on the outskirts of town. Bullets peppered the vehicle, and Jaya prepared to attack.

Charles and Erik were looking for a mutant. According to Charles, the mutant wasn't the most powerful one they'd found, but was in desperate need of their help. They were in a small town in Northern California called Grandel and they couldn't find her. Erik sighed and looked at Charles who was trying to find her with his psychic powers. His eyes were closed in concentration so Erik took out his coin. The coin orbited his knuckles and flashed in the light of the crescent moon.

"She's near the outskirts." Charles reported. Erik nodded and they hurried over to a deserted alley across from where she was. Erik sucked in his breath and looked around. Everywhere he looked there was angry face illuminated by their flashlights. Their anger was directed at a girl hiding behind a car. They had guns and were firing at her. Erik was about to stop the bullets when the girl stood up and two knives slipped from her sleeves to her hands. Erik and Charles looked on with awe as the girl twirled and the metal from the blades sliced and cut at the mob. Each slice from the knives brought a scream from a person. The girl scowled and closed her eyes. Erik looked on in awe as the shadows from the edges of the light started to creep in. The shadows swallowed all the light that was coming from the torches and flashlights. The remainder of the mob seemed too busy panicking to notice the girl slip away. Erik and Charles followed the girl down an alleyway.

Jaya ran down the small alley. Her breath was coming out in pants and she gripped the place where the bullet had struck her arm. She could only see darkness ahead, so she almost ran smack into the wall. She felt the wall. It was brick. This was a dead end. She gritted her teeth and stepped back. She would just have go back the way she came. She spun on her heel and stopped when she saw the two figures blocking her path. She felt a sudden anger rush from inside her

"Do you people ever LEARN?" She yelled.

One of the figures said in a male voice, "Hello Jaya."

Jaya squinted to see in the darkness, "I'll kill you too, if I have to." She threatened, gripping a knife in each hand.

One of the figures chuckled.

Jaya threw her knives at the two figures and watched as they flew in the air towards them. Just as the knives were about to pierce their hearts, they froze in midair. Jaya stood, open-mouthed as the knives slowly moved to one of the figure's hands. The man gripped both knives and tilted his head.

'Jaya. There's no need to attack us.' Said a male voice in her head, "We only want to help you." Said the other man in the same voice that was in her head. Jaya stumbled back a step, "Who ARE you?"

"Please, Jaya. Calm down." Said the one who was speaking in her head.

"Calm down? Calm down! How did you get in my mind? And YOU!" She whirled to face the figure that had taken her knives, " How did you take my knives? They should have killed you!"

" We're mutants like you Jaya."

Jaya frowned, "But everyone says I'm a witch, a devil's child."

The one that stole her knives growled, "Of course they say that. They're afraid of you, Jaya, because you're better than them."

Jaya tilted her head, "What's your name?"

"Erik." He replied shortly. He held out his hand and Jaya's knives floated back to her.

"Thanks."

"And I'm Charles Xavier." He held out his hand and Jaya hesitantly took it.

"Jaya Dusk." She replied.

"I know that already. In fact, I know pretty much everything about you. I know for instance, that your parents led the first witch-hunt against you, when you were ten years old. I also know that you killed them a year later."

Jaya snatched her hand away and scowled at him, "You can read minds?"

Xavier nodded.

"OK. And you can make things fly?" She asked Erik.

"No. I control all metal things."

"Oh. So what do you need me for?"

Xavier started walking away and Jaya followed him. Erik took up the rear.

"We'll tell you in the car."

Xavier led her to a beat up taxi, "It's going to be a tight fit. Darwin's in there too."

"Who's Darwin?" Jaya asked.

"Another mutant we've found. It's his car." Erik replied.

Xavier climbed into the front seat next to a skinny, dark skinned man.

Jaya slid into the back seat and closed the door. It was starting to rain outside and the raindrops made a rhythmic pattering on the roof.

Xavier cleared his throat and started talking, "The reason you're here is to stop world war three. There is a mutant, Sebastian Shaw, who believes that humans should be eradicated and mutants should rule the world."

"And he's right." Erik muttered.

Jaya frowned with confusion, "Then why are you here?"

"Because he killed my mother." Erik said while looking out at the rain-splattered window.

Xavier frowned at him, "As I was saying before I was interrupted, the CIA wants us to work together to stop Shaw and his men and also prevent a nuclear war."

"I don't think I'll be much help to you, I can barely do anything." Jaya said.

Erik's eyes twinkled with amusement, "You were pretty handy with those knives though."

"Yeah, but my power isn't very good."

"Don't worry, we'll train you to enhance it later."

"Ok."

"Get some rest," said Xavier, "It'll be a long ride."

**Sorry this chapter is a bit slow, but don't worry. The next ones should be better.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two: It's raining CIA.**

When they finally pulled up to the facility, Jaya was entirely sick of being in the taxi. As she stumbled out of the car she pointed to the yellow car and said, "I despise that car."

"Hey!" Darwin said frowning.

Jaya smirked and followed Erik into the building. The walked up several flights of seemingly pointless stairs and then talked to somebody who was probably important, but Jaya just thought looked wimpy. Then, they walked down the pointless stairs and went into a room that had several over-stuffed couches arranged in a circle with teens of various ages lounging in them. She had no doubt that she looked out of place and too solemn to be with this group. But Xavier and Erik walked out of the room, leaving her with the others.

Darwin introduced her to everyone like she was a small child, which irritated her. She sat on the very edge of the couch, trying to get as far away as she could from them and not make it look obvious.

"So," Said one of the girls. She had dirty blonde hair and a perfect face. Jaya had heard people calling her Raven, "What can you do?"

"I control darkness," Jaya mumbled.

"Really?" She asked. "Show us!"

Jaya blushed and stood slowly. She clicked her fingers and a shadow came swirling from a corner into her hand.

"Wow!" Said the red headed kid.

"She can do much more than that!" Darwin exclaimed, "You should see her with her knives."

Jaya frowned, "You saw that?"

Darwin smirked, "I didn't; Charles told when you were sleeping."

"Oh" Jaya felt her cheeks burning. She definitely wasn't used to all this attention.

"Well come on!" The girl called Angel said, "Show us MORE!"

Jaya smiled shyly and slowly took her knives from the insides of her sleeves. She swirled the knives in a hurricane of sharp silver, and threw them both at the opposite wall. The knives sliced through the opposite wall like butter. Jaya grinned and shadows whipped forward and snatched the knives and dragged them back to Jaya. She sat down as quickly as she could.

"What can YOU do?" She asked Raven who was still staring at the cracked wall. Raven turned to face her and slowly a blue ripple was pulsing through her body, she began to change until she had pale skin and short, choppy, fiery red hair with piercing blue eyes. Just like Jaya. Then Jaya realized that she was looking at herself.

"What the…" Jaya said, voice full of awe, "You're a shape shifter?"

Raven smiled Jaya's smile and said in Jaya's voice, "I'm a shape shifter."

Raven rippled back to her original form, the blonde girl. She smiled.

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It had been four days since Jaya had met Erik and Charles. At the time, she wasn't sure she was making the right choice, but where else could she go? Now Jaya was certain she had made the right choice. Jaya looked around. Hank, Raven, Angel, and Sean, were talking amongst themselves, and kept glancing at her to make sure she knew she could join in on the conversation if she liked. Instead of doing that, Jaya looked over at the arcade game that Darwin and Alex were playing. She strolled over to watch.

"Man you are killing me!" Darwin exclaimed, as Alex's score rose swiftly.

"Don't beat yourself up." Alex said in a gruff voice, "I've had a lot of spare time." Jaya snorted. All of a sudden, a bang sounded outside. Jaya listened for a second before hearing it again.

"Do you hear that?" Jaya asked nervously.

Alex turned, "What is it?"

"I don't know but something's not right." Darwin walked over to the window and opened the blinds. Jaya peered out into the darkness, and for once, she wished that it wasn't so dark outside. She heard the bang again, this time from above. She looked up in the sky and saw two figures illuminated in front of the full moon. With a bang, one of the figures disappeared, leaving behind a plume of smoke. Jaya watched as a body fell from the sky and dropped in front of the window. The other mutants screamed in horror and backed away from the window, but Jaya just stared at the body. It was broken, and very, very messy. She was used to seeing people die, she had killed 99% of them. But she had never looked at their dead corpses up close until now. It filled her with a horrible sense of awe. Seeing what had once been living and breathing like her, turned into a dead lifeless thing. Another bang and the figure reappeared with a new man to kill in the same fashion. Soon bodies were dropping from the sky, with every smack of flesh on concrete, the other mutants flinched. Jaya looked back at the window and saw the teleporter up close. He looked a lot like the devil. The only thing that was missing was horns and goat legs. Instead of a pitchfork, he had two knives, like Jaya's. Jaya flicked her wrists and her knives shot into her hands. The teleporter saw her and tilted his head and grinned. For some odd reason Jaya grinned back. With one swift movement, she sliced the glass with one knife and sprinted out towards the teleporter. She heard a loud bang and instinctively twisted around and sliced blindly. She heard a hiss of pain and another bang and twirled around again. The area was empty. She slowly turned, looking for any signs of smoke. The she saw him. He was in the room. She dashed into the room and raised her knives. The teleporter looked at her and smirked.

"One on one." Jaya said snarling, "No powers."

The teleporter grinned and bowed a little. She raised her knives and sliced at his abdomen. He easily deflected it and slashed at her. She blocked the knives with her own and spun quickly and twisted her hands, causing his knives to fly away. Jaya grinned and raised her knives for the final blow when she saw out of the corner of her eyes a fist coming towards her face. She raised her arm too late and the punch hit her right next to her eye socket. Jaya flew across the room and slammed into the wall. She tried to regain her breath and slowly stood to her feet.

"Azazel! Why did you just sit there? She almost killed you!" Said a man with a helmet on.

Azazel replied evenly, "It was a duel. No powers were allowed. Those were the rules."

The man with the dorky helmet growled, "Someday that good sportsmanship is going to get you killed."

Azazel shrugged and looked away. Jaya slowly limped to towards the other mutants, who were looking at her with concern and panic. She stood in front of the others protectively and gripped her knives menacingly.

The man with the helmet stepped forward, "Good evening, my name is Sebastian Shaw. And I am not here to hurt you."

Jaya snorted and muttered, "Could've fooled me."

Shaw smiled tightly and said, "Azazel."

Azazel teleported right in front of her and snatched her knives away. Before she could make a grab at them, Azazel disappeared and reappeared shortly without her knives.

"HEY!" She yelled, "Where did you put them?"

He smirked and replied in heavily accented English, " Somewhere safe. Children shouldn't be playing with knives."

Jaya scowled and the shadows in the room started to twitch.

"Please stop Jaya." Raven said in an undertone. Jaya nodded. She didn't listen to Shaw's speech, she was too busy scowling at Azazel to pay attention, but she got the gist. And when Angel took Shaw's hand, she was just as disappointed as the rest of them. Just as they were about to leave, Darwin shouted, "Wait! I'm coming with you." Jaya was about to shout curses at his back when she noticed Alex's sly smile.

"And what can you do?" Shaw asked

"I adapt to survive. So I guess I'm coming with you then." Darwin said.

Shaw grinned, "I like that."

Darwin slowly walked over next to Angel and then grabbed her and shielded her. "ALEX NOW!" He yelled.

Alex released several hula-hoops of red energy at Shaw, while Darwin protected Angel with his hard skin. Instead of frying Shaw, Shaw simply absorbed the red energy. Azazel snatched Angel from Darwin's grasp. Darwin stepped back and Shaw strode towards him.

"Adapt to this." Shaw whispered to Darwin. He extended his hand sent a small sphere of red energy down Darwin's throat. Azazel teleported them all away, leaving her and others watching in horror as Darwin's body tried to adapt to the raw energy inside of him. Eventually, it gave up and started to burn. Jaya turned away and cried.

_/~\_/~\_/~\_/~\_/~\_/~\_

They had to spend the night at the facility until Charles and Erik could get back. Jaya flopped down on her bed. She sighed. She wasn't even going to try and get to sleep that night. She knew what was happening to her, the same thing happened when she was eleven. That was the day she killed her parents. Her mind was too full with images of Darwin dying. And every time she went in a quiet room, she kept hearing the sounds of bodies falling to the ground. She sighed and switched on the record player. It was some sort of classical music. Jaya picked up the record case, _#12: Sleepers Wake_. Jaya played #12 over and over again. She loved the calm music that was happy yet sad. She crawled into her bed and pulled the covers up. Jaya woke to a loud bang in her room. She jumped to her feet backed away from the red figure that now stood in her room.

"What do you want?" Jaya asked.

"A rematch." Azazel said in a soft, calm voice.

"Now?" Jaya asked incredulously.

Azazel chuckled, "No, of course not. You are unarmed. I would never attack you without reason." He stepped forward and put two knives on her bed.

Jaya frowned, "Those aren't mine."

"No. I destroyed yours and I'm deeply sorry about that. That is why I'm giving you these."

Jaya cautiously picked up the blades. They were identical. They both had sharp silver blades with sapphires inlaid them. The handles were made of ivory with two serpents carved into them.

Jaya looked up, "Why did you give me these? They're worth WAY more than mine were."

Azazel smiled, "I didn't buy them."

"You stole them?"

Azazel shook his head, "They're mine."

Jaya almost dropped the knives right there, "You mean, you killed those innocent men with these blades?"

Azazel shook his head again, " No. They are my spares. I have not used them for years."

"Oh ok."

"What is your name?"

"Jaya. Jaya Dusk."

"Why are you on their side Jaya?"

Jaya hesitated, "I don't want the humans to die. If we are meant to survive, we will live and something will kill the humans, like a plague. If we weren't meant to live, then nature will kill us off in it's own way. I don't want to slaughter billions of people, do you?"

Azazel shrugged, "I don't really care."

Jaya turned away, "Of course you don't." She heard Azazel sigh and then she heard a bang. She looked back and saw that the room was empty. Jaya looked down at her new knives. They were perfect. She slipped them into her sleeves and went back to bed.


	3. Chapter 3

**I'd like to thank 'Guest' for reviewing, it really means the world to me, and all of you that are sticking with me on this story. :)**

**Chapter three: Maybe I'm crazy**

The next day, Charles and Erik met them outside of the ruined facility.

"We're sending you back home guys." Charles said.

"What home?" Jaya asked.

"We are NOT going home." Sean said angrily.

"It's too dangerous" Charles said.

"Charles. Darwin is DEAD. And we can't even bury him." Raven said quietly.

"We can avenge him." Said Erik.

Charles looked at him angrily and took him aside to talk. In the end, it looked like Erik had won. They walked back over and Charles said, "We'll need to train."

"Where? Even if they open this place back up, it's not safe. We've got no where to go." Hank said.

Charles smiled slightly, "Yes, we do."

Charles was trying to train Jaya to enhance her powers. The most she could do was to cover lights with shadows and make faint figures of people. Definitely not helpful. Charles had tried everything he could think of. She was currently practicing five hours a day and during personal free time, she worked more. No matter how hard she tried, she didn't improve. She was sitting in her room, manipulating the shadows around the dark room. The president had made his address today, and they were going to save the world tomorrow. Jaya sighed. She heard an argument coming from Raven's room. She recognized Hank's voice and heard him saying, 'We need this cure.' She scowled. Why would anyone want a cure? They both could hide the odd parts of their mutations. Why push it? And why were they trying this the night before they prevented world war III? Jaya groaned and put her head in her hands. This was bad. Jaya didn't get any sleep that night. She woke up early and went to see Hank. She wanted to see if the cure worked and then yell at him for being very stupid if it didn't.

She didn't find him in his room, so she went to the laboratory. On it was a note saying,

'_Went to the airbase. Bring the chest marked X. -Hank.'_

Jaya didn't open the door. She figured someone else would bring the chest.

As she walked up to the jet, She called out, "Hank?"

"Jaya?" Hank's voice came from the jet.

Jaya walked into the jet and saw the figure of Hank. "What HAPPENED?" Jaya cried as she saw Hank completely. He was covered with blue fur.

"It enhanced the cells. It didn't work." He said sadly.

Jaya stopped and looked at him, "It enhanced your mutation?"

"Yeah why?" Hank asked curiously.

Jaya felt a grin spread across her face.

Hank looked at Jaya with concern, "You're sure about this?" he asked her.

"Yeah. If it doesn't work, I'm useless anyways." She replied in a nonchalant tone.

Hank felt a surge of fear well up inside of him as he placed the needle on her arm and then pushed it into her flesh. He hesitated before injecting the serum into her vein. "Please Jaya…"

Jaya gave him a sharp look and yanked her arm with the needle away from him. The needle stayed in and she injected the serum into her blood. At first nothing happened, but then shadows started to twitch. Jaya gasped in shock and hunched over, and as she did so, a tidal wave of darkness surged towards her. Her body started to glow with a dark purple light. The light pulsed as she absorbed wave after wave of shadows. Jaya's eyes snapped open and she screamed in pain. Hank started forward, but some tendrils of darkness seized him and dragged him away from Jaya's screaming figure.

"HELP!" Hank yelled, "SOMEBODY HELP!"

Hank heard Charles shout somewhere, "HANK?"

"WE'RE OVER HERE!" Hank yelled back. Soon the other mutants came.

Charles saw Jaya screaming and tried to run towards her, but the darkness threw him back. He fell to the floor gasping for breath. Erik tried to throw metal objects at the darkness, but sharp blades of shadows kept slicing whatever he threw. Charles raised his fingers to his temple and went into Jaya's mind.

Charles' eyes widened and his face turned pale, "Something's wrong with her mind. She's gone insane."

"Can't you do anything?" Asked Alex urgently.

"I can try." Charles said, scowling with concentration.

Jaya's body started to stop glowing. Soon she looked normal again. But the darkness kept swirling around the room. Charles had been in a trance for fifteen minutes. He sighed and took his finger from his temple. Jaya had fallen asleep. The shadows crept lazily around the room, resembling snakes in the way they moved.

"She'll be alright. We can't take her with us though."

Hank sighed and trudged up into the jet. He felt like a jerk. He had ruined everything he had with Raven and then his experiment backfired on him. To top it off, he had let Jaya use the serum even though he knew it was dangerous and now they had lost one of their fighters.

Xavier laid a hand on Hank's shoulder and whispered into his ear, "It's not your fault, she chose it and now she's a fifty times more powerful than before."

Hank nodded and sat down into the pilot seat.

Xavier had settled down into his chair when he felt a searing pain enter his mind. Grasping his head with his hands, he let out a yell of pain. He could hear the voices of his fellow mutants asking if he was OK in the background, but the clear searing pain was muting the sounds around him. He forced his mind to find the source of the pain and he discovered it was Jaya. He quickly jumped up and ran out of the jet, towards the place where they had left Jaya. She was gone. Xavier looked wildly around and then tried to use his mind. Instantly, the pain greeted him, forcing him to his knees. Then he saw the shadows. They were whipping around the room like serpents. Xavier scrambled away from the nearest shadows, and then he saw her. She was wearing cloths made of darkness. Her fiery red hair popped out against the darkness around her.

She grinned an insane grin and said, "I'm coming too aren't I?"

Charles shook his head and said, "You're still recovering. You can't come. Stay here."

Jaya smirked, "Read my mind before you judge if I'm ready or not."

Charles pursed his lips and entered her mind. Unlike before, when everything was mumbo jumbo, now everything was neat and orderly. Charles almost withdrew from her mind then, but something was wrong. Yes, everything seemed to be sane, but the way her brain was responding to thoughts was completely wrong. He dug deeper into the organized thoughts and found, just below the surface, her insanity. She was controlling it, but barely. He quickly withdrew from her mind.

Jaya smiled sweetly, "Am I good to go?"

Charles sighed, "I guess. Just whatever you do, keep control."

Jaya grinned, "Easier done than said." She turned on her heel and sauntered of towards the jet, shadows trailing behind her.

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**I really hope I haven't lost any of you, please review. It's what keeps me going.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Inner Demons**

**Again, thank you so much Guest, you are extremely amazing and I'm only doing this story for you now :P. For the rest of you, I'm really sad. Guest seems like the only person who cares *sniffs*. It doesn't take much time people. Just write something at the bottom and hit send. It doesn't even have to be related to the story! It could "yoyo heaven" for all I care :P. Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter.**

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Everyone stared as Jaya entered the jet. But she didn't mind. The old Jaya might have, but now, she chuckled to herself. Life was too short to care what others thought of you. She had been blind to this before but she now understood it all. She slipped into her seat next to Raven and Xavier. Raven stared open mouthed at her.

"You know, it's rude to stare, Raven." Jaya replied in a light, playful voice.

Raven quickly looked away, but soon Jaya felt her eyes on her again.

Jaya turned to face her, "If you have a question, ask already."

Raven opened her mouth to answer when the engine roared to life, drowning out her smart reply. Jaya quickly fastened her seatbelt as the jet lifted into the air.

"How do you feel?" Raven asked again.

"Hmm?" Jaya said, "Oh! I feel grand. I feel like I am completely fresh and nothing can stop me."

Raven nodded and asked, "Did it hurt?"

Jaya smiled a lopsided smile, "Still does."

"So you're not insane anymore?"

Jaya laughed, "My dear friend, the one thing I can assure you of is that I am completely and utterly halfly insane."

Raven frowned, "You don't seem insane."

Jaya smirked, "I'm a good actress."

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When they finally got to the site, Russia's ship was about to cross the Embargo line.

"It looks pretty messy down there." Hank said in his new gruff voice. Jaya looked out the window. Charles tried to enter the mind of the captain the ship carrying the missiles. He sighed and withdrew.

"The crew of the Aral Sea is all dead. It's the teleporter's doing."

"You mean Azazel?" Jaya asked

"Is that his name?"

Jaya nodded.

"If that ship crosses the line, our boys are going to blow her up and start World War III" Moira said

Charles stopped and grinned, "Not if it's our boys."

Charles entered the mind of the comrade on the Russian war ship.

All around he heard people yelling, "Do not fire. She has been ordered to stop." He made the comrade walk over and push a button that released a missile at the ship. Then Charles withdrew from his mind. The missile came flying towards the jet and Beast had to swerve to avoid it. The missile hit the Russian ship and destroyed it.

"Good job Charles. Now I can't do a duel with Azazel." Jaya said smirking.

Erik scowled, "He probably survived. Don't worry Jaya, you'll get your duel."

Jaya yawned and said to herself, "I deserve a nap." And fell asleep. No one else noticed. When Jaya woke up, Erik was raising a huge submarine from the water towards the beach.

Jaya stared out the window. "Er…what's going on?"

No one answered. They were all too busy watching the submarine. A small figure climbed out of the submarine and scowled up at Erik. Jaya recognized him as the guy who could make tornados.

"Oh boy." Jaya muttered as two huge hurricanes came swirling towards them.

"Hang on back there, it's going to get bumpy." Hank said. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Charles pulling Erik back into the jet, and then the world was upside down. The jet swirled and Jaya let out a scream of terror. She could no longer tell which way was up and which way was down. The jet crashed into the beach, causing Jaya's body to lurch forward.

"Is everyone OK back there?"

"Yeah." Raven replied.

Jaya looked around, "Where's Banshee?"

Raven frowned, "He went into the ocean to locate Shaw remember?"

Jaya frowned, "No."

"How did you not notice that?"

"I was asleep."

"How could you have slept in a time like this?" Raven said angrily, raising her voice.

"Girls please." Charles said angrily, "Try and take this seriously Jaya, and Raven, don't encourage her."

Jaya smiled apologetically. Charles turned to Erik, "Erik, you need to locate Shaw. I read the teleporter's mind and learned that he's trying to activate some atomic bomb. I can't stop him because he's blocking my telepathy in some way."

Erik nodded and started to walk out of the jet.

"Beast, Havoc, you go with him." Charles instructed. Then he turned to Jaya, "Jaya…"

"Right, right. Don't lose control."

Charles nodded gravely and gestured for her to join the rest. Jaya jumped up and took the knives that Azazel gave her. She ran to catch up with the others and stood looking at her opponents. There was the guy, Riptide. He had a mischievous smile on his face. Then there was Angel. She looked angry, like she was about to kill someone, and also scared. Like she was afraid of getting killed. Then there was Azazel of course. He had his two knives in his hands and smiling at Jaya. When he saw her looking back, he grinned wickedly. Jaya raised her swords and flashed a gleaming smile back.

Erik muttered to her, "You take Azazel."

Jaya nodded and yelled at the top of her lungs, "OK ERIK, I'll TAKE ON AZAZEL." She looked at him and when she saw him glare at her she yelled again, "OH SORRY. DID YOU WANT THAT TO BE SECRET?"

She grinned as Erik whisper shouted at her, "What's you're problem?!"

"I'm insane remember? It's an excuse for everything."

Erik scowled and turned to Beast and Alex, "You two take on Riptide. I'll get Shaw."

Jaya snorted, "I'm sure they'll never expect YOU to go get Shaw huh? You just want to kill him."

Erik ignored her and started running towards the submarine. Azazel teleported right in front of Jaya, grabbed hold of her and teleported away. Now they were on the far side of the beach. Azazel smiled and whipped his knives around, "I'm afraid the rules of this duel are; powers allowed."

Jaya smiled sweetly, "Oh goodie."

Azazel disappeared and Jaya twirled around, sending sharp shadows in every direction. She heard Azazel yelp and turned just in time to see one of the shadows pierce him in the rear. She laughed and Azazel disappeared, only to grab her from behind and teleport again. They were now fifty feet above the ocean and Azazel dropped her. She plummeted towards the sea and at the last second, Azazel reappeared and teleported her again. This time they were back on the beach.

Jaya raised her eyebrows, "Having second thoughts about killing me?"

Azazel grinned, "I was trying to scare you."

"Mission accomplished." Jaya said frowning.

Azazel took a step closer.

Jaya's frown deepened, "Erm, aren't we supposed to be dueling to the death Azazel?"

Azazel smirked, "I don't think you want to kill me and I certainly don't want to kill you."

Jaya looked confused, "Why not?"

Azazel shrugged and smiled, "There's something different about you now."

Jaya smirked, "Well I did go insane since the last time we met."

Azazel looked up, "What?"

"I took a serum that enhanced my powers. It also drove me partially insane."

Azazel grabbed her and they teleported away. This time they were in a building.

Jaya gripped Azazel's arm and asked, "Where are we?"

Azazel twisted his arm away from her grasp and said sadly, "My home. I don't want you to get hurt." With that, he teleported away.

"DARN YOU!" Jaya yelled.

Azazel reappeared, "I'll get you when the fighting is over." Jaya made a desperate grab for him but he was already gone.

"ARHHHHH!" She yelled and kicked a coffee table over. She scowled and sat on the floor, waiting.

.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.

Jaya woke up to someone shaking her and whispering, "Jaya?"

She flung her fist out and hit Azazel square on the face.

"AH!" He yelled in pain and surprise, "What was that for?"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK? YOU LEFT ME HERE! IT WAS SO DARN BORING I WAS AFRAID OF KILLING MYSELF TO SAVE MYSELF THE WAIT!" Jaya yelled back.

Azazel rolled his eyes and teleported them back to the beach. Erik was lowering the body of Shaw from the submarine. No one appeared to be dead. Jaya stepped away from Azazel and towards Charles. All eyes were on Erik. Oh. He was saying something. Jaya listened.

"…I can feel their guns on us. Americans, Soviets, humans. Go on Charles, tell me I'm wrong." Charles pursed his lips and used his telepathy. He stopped and his mouth dropped open. He turned and nodded to Moira. She ran to the demolished plane. Suddenly a hundred shots were heard and lots and lots of missiles were flying straight towards them. She turned to Azazel, and was extremely surprised to see he was still there.

She ran over to him and said, "Azazel! Get everyone to hold hands! We've got to get out of here!" But Azazel didn't respond. It was like he was in a trance.

"HELLO?" She waved a hand in front of his face.

"What?" he muttered, still staring at the missiles that were speeding towards them.

"TELEPORT US AWAY FROM HERE AZAZEL!" She yelled at him.

He pointed into the air and she turned and saw that all the missiles were suspended in midair. She looked at Erik and saw he was controlling them. Slowly, the missiles turned so they were facing the ships.

Erik!" Charles said "We're the better men, now's the time to prove it."

Erik ignored him and shot the missiles at the ships.

"ERIK NO!" Charles tackled him and tried to rip the helmet from his head.

Erik elbowed him and growled, "I don't want to hurt you Charles, don't make me." He stood up and took control of the missiles again. They sped towards the war ships and they were about to hit them when a gunshot rang out. Jaya turned to see Moira firing at Erik. Erik deflected each shot and the bullets ricocheted in random directions. Jaya heard a yell of pain and looked past Erik at Charles who was falling to the ground, clutching the bullet wound on his lower back. In an instant, Erik was kneeling beside him, using his powers to draw the bullet from Charles's back. He glared up at Moira, who was looking at Charles in shock.

"You." Erik growled, "You did this." He extended his hand and Moira's dog tags flew to her throat, choking her.

"Erik," Charles gasped, "She didn't do this, you did."

Erik looked down at Charles and released Moira. She fell to the ground gasping, but Erik's focus was on Charles.

"They're turning us against each other, it's what they want." Erik said desperately, "We're both want the same thing."

Jaya snorted.

"I'm sorry my friend, but we do not." Charles said coldly. Erik sighed and let Moira take his place.

She sounded like she was close to tears. "Charles! I'm so sorry Charles, I'm so-"

_Geez. You'd think a CIA agent would have more composure than that. _Jaya thought.

"…Who's with me?"

Jaya raised her head and realized she had zoned out. Again. Raven walked towards Charles and kneeled beside him. They said some things to each other and then Raven rose and took Erik's hand. Azazel, Angel and Riptide walked over and joined Erik.

Azazel looked up and asked, "Jaya?"

Jaya bit her lip, "If I do go with you, I'm just going to do whatever. I'm done doing what other people tell me to do, I'm going to live my life the way I want to." She looked to Erik to see what he thought of her proposal.

He nodded reluctantly and she walked over to join them. She grabbed Azazel's hand and they disappeared.

* * *

**Sorry if I skipped over your favorite speeches, but I figure, you've (hopefully) all seen the movie so do I really need to write everything they say? I'm hoping I don't. The next chapter I'm writing will have a lot more Jaya, and less stuff you already know about. This was the end of First Class, and i hope you enjoyed. Review please?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter five: Changed**

Jaya was true to what she had said on the beach. When the Brotherhood conspired, she stayed out of it. When they went to go get Emma Frost, she left. She left a note saying she didn't want anyone meddling with her brain. She went to Xavier's house, and they welcomed her graciously. Xavier told her all about his school and that he would open it soon. Now Jaya was in her bedroom at Xavier's place. She sighed and played with her knives. Life was boring at the moment. It had seemed like stopping Shaw had become her life and now, well. She threw the blades at the opposite wall, leaving slits in the wall. Her shadows dragged them back to her. She threw them again at the wall, and they hit the exact point that they had before.

"Not bad."

Jaya whirled around to see Azazel.

"What do you want Azazel?"

He shrugged, "I just want to talk."

"M'kay." She said, "Go ahead."

Azazel took a step closer nervously, "Ever since I met you, I've wanted to do this."

He stepped forward and kissed her.

Jaya stepped back and the shadows around her started to move. Jaya pushed Azazel away, "Look, I'm sorry but no. Maybe before I went insane, but now, I'm not interested in that sort of stuff."

Azazel looked extremely hurt and disappeared.

Jaya sighed and trudged down to the laboratory. Hank was in there, studying something.

"Hey Hank." Jaya said.

"Hi." He muttered.

"I need to know if the serum has affected anything other than my control of darkness."

Hank snorted, "Your mind."

Jaya laughed, "No I mean, did it enhance a different mutation? I feel…changed."

Hank sighed and took out a needle. "I'm going to need to take some of your blood."

"M'kay." She said and held out her arm. He took the blood. He told her to come back in a half hour so he could analyze the sample properly. When she returned, she found him looking at it through a microscope.

He turned to her and said, "Your mutation HAS changed. Now, instead of barely controlling shadows, you have almost complete control over shadows and your life span has been tripled. So now, instead of living about 89 years, you'll live for 267 years. You'll also look younger than most people."

Jaya looked at him, "Really?"

Hank nodded his big blue ape head.

Jaya grinned, "267 years to wreck havoc on the Earth. Wow." She grinned, "Thanks Hank."

"You're welcome." He said gruffly.

"I have one more question." Jaya said cautiously, "If I were to take the serum again…"

"Don't" Hank said sharply, "It would kill you."

Jaya nodded and exited the room.

Jaya knocked on Charles door.

"Come in." She heard from inside.

She opened the door and walked in. Charles's room was full of scientific papers and framed images of Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton. There was a narrow path from the door to the bed, and from the bed to the desk, but the rest was crammed.

"Pardon the mess." Charles said, "What brings you here Jaya?"

Jaya shrugged, "I'm thinking of moving out and I need to know if my mind is… stable."

Charles entered Jaya's mind and after a while, opened his eyes. "You should be OK for a while, but I would advise a yearly check up with me."

Jaya nodded.

"Where are you off to anyways?" Charles inquired.

"I'm going back to California. But I'm going to be in the southern area this time. I need a life Charles. Your life is your school. Hank's is his studies. Erik lives for revenge. Azazel lives to kill. I need my own life."

Charles raised an eyebrow, "What do you have in mind?"

Jaya grinned, "Have you ever thought about how wonderful bagpipes sound?"

Charles snickered, "BAGPIPES? YOU?!"

"And Karate." Jaya said.

"Wait your serious?"

"Absolutely." Jaya said gravely.

Charles sighed and grinned, "You continue to amaze me, Jaya Dusk."

Jaya smirked and walked away.

**Anyways, thanks to all the people who followed and favorited this, It means the world to me. This chapter was the end of Part 1**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six: Keep Calm and Pipe On:**

**Vocabulary you might need to know (Unless you play bagpipes.):**

**Sporran: a purse-like bag for bagpipers and Scottish drummers that goes around the waist over the kilt.**

**Kilt: A skirt like garment traditionally used in Scotland that is made of heavy wool.**

**Chanter: The part of the bagpipes where the notes come out.**

**Flashes: Things that are used to keep pipers' socks up.**

**Strike In: A way to start a bagpipe.**

**Cut Off: A way to stop a bagpipe.**

**Additional Info: You don't need to blow into a bagpipe all the time. You can squeeze the bag part down and still be able to play notes. So usually, bagpipers will play their song and when the last few measures come up, they stop blowing all together and simply squeeze.**

Jaya woke up to the sun in her face. She groggily sat up and rubbed her eyes. Sunlight was streaming from the small window and casting light on the small room. The room had a few shelves, all of which were filled with medals and trophies. In a corner, a bagpipe lay sprawled out next to its case. A few packages of candy cigars and candy cigarettes were lying around the room. There were lots of papers floating around, and most of them were unpaid bills. In middle of the room was a small, unmade cot. Jaya was sitting on the cot, still trying to wake up. She looked over at the clock hanging from the wall. She cursed and stumbled out of bed, slipping on the loose papers. She walked over to a small closet and threw open the door, revealing a kilt, a shirt that went with the kilt, a sporran, a tie and a pair of fancy shoes. She threw on the outfit and grabbed her pipe case and dashed out the door. She ran down the narrow steps to her apartment and ran to her small, parked smart car. She threw everything in the back and drove off. Jaya pulled up as she neared a small church. She was supposed to have been there half an hour ago. She threw on her socks and strapped her flashes on. She walked quickly towards the door of the side room, pipes in hand and opened the door. Several people dressed in black occupied the room. They all had somber expressions and looked at her disapprovingly when she entered late.

"I'm so sorry." Jaya said in a desperate tone.

An elderly woman pursed her lips and tried her best to smile, "It's OK miss. You haven't missed the ceremony yet."

"Oh good." Jaya said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"You're on in four minutes, Miss Dusk." Said a portly, middle-aged man.

Jaya groaned inside but really said, "Perfect. That's all I need."

She quickly walked outside to tune her pipes. She walked to the other side of the building, to make sure that no one could see her. She struck her bag and started to play _The Green Hills Of Tyrol _to warm up. Jaya's shadow twitched and then stood up like it was real. It started tuning her drones and then her chanter before melting back into position. She quickly strode over to the entrance of the church and waited.

The elderly woman hobbled up to her, "Remember, you're playing Amazing Grace when we walk in and when we walk out, you're playing Scotland the Brave."

Jaya nodded, "I know Ms. Pia. I've done these things for most of my life."

Ms. Pia nodded and started to walk in.

Jaya struck in her pipes and walked into the church playing Amazing Grace. She walked down the aisle and turned and walked off to the side. She stopped blowing and squeezed down her pipes for the last few measures. She cut off and there was silence in the church. The minister stood up to talk a bit about the deceased person, and Jaya zoned out. She thought of Charles, Erik, Raven, and Azazel of course. She felt bad about rejecting him, but she was telling the truth. Before the serum, she would have gladly gone out with Azazel. But afterwards, she felt no urge to get romantic with anyone. It was like that had been drained from her. She still wanted to be friends, but she didn't want to get romantically involved. Ever.

Jaya snapped back to reality just in time to walk out of the church playing her pipes, and finish the gig. She walked over to Ms. Pia to collect her payment; it got awkward because she was sobbing. Jaya stood there uncomfortably.

Ms. Pia saw her and drew her into a hug, "Oh dearie! Thank you so much for this. Fred would have loved to hear you. He loves the bagpipes. I mean: he loved the bagpipes." She burst into more tears. When she finally released Jaya from the embrace, Jaya's shirt was completely wet with tears and snot.

Jaya wrinkled her nose with disgust and said, "Ms. Pia, my payment…"

Ms. Pia handed her the money and went over to use someone else's shirt as a tissue.

Jaya went into the restroom and pulled on the extra shirt she brought. She went back to thinking of her old friends when she climbed into the car. How long had it been since they had saved the world from nuclear war? It had been 1963 when they had faced that issue, so that would mean… Jaya shook her head. She was really bad at math. The point was that it had been a really long time since they had been together. She saw Charles once a year give or take, and while he grew old and bald, she looked the same age she had back in 1963. Speaking of which, it was about time to see him again. She had been zoning out lately, and zoning out usually led to problems. For instance, once she was getting something to eat, and she zoned out in line. The next thing she knew, there was darkness flying everywhere and destroying everything in her path. She hadn't meant to do it, it had just happened. She had to move shortly after that. The authorities had already been notified of her and were looking all over for her. She liked the old days when one could simply show off powers and no one knew what she was. Now days though, everyone knew about mutants. It was worse than being accused of witch in Jaya's opinion. When you're a witch, people are afraid that your powers are limitless, that you're some sort of demon. When people know you're a mutant, they know that you have your limits and can be destroyed. She walked out into the church's parking lot and got into her small car. She took her small flip phone and dialed Charles's number.

"_Hello, this is Charles Xavier speaking."_

"Hey baldy. It's me, Jaya."

"_Hello Jaya. What do you need?"_

"An appointment."

"_Oh. Is it time already? My how time flies."_

Jaya snorted, "You have no idea."

"_Well I'll arrange your flight up here."_

"Really? Thanks!"

"_No problem at all. I know you have some… financial issues…"_

"Yeah. Well. Thanks again! Bye." Jaya hung up and turned the engine on. She drove back to her apartment. Just as she walked through the door of the apartment, her phone started to ring.

She picked up, "Hello?"

"Hi. This is Sensei Green."

"Oh hi."

"Are you busy tonight Jaya?"

"Nope."

"Then would you mind teaching tonight's class? I have to visit a sick relative. It's very urgent."

"Yeah I'll teach."

"Great. I knew I could count on you. I'll pay you too."

"Thanks."

"No. Thank YOU."

Jaya hung up. The Karate class started in twenty minutes. She threw her gi on and ran out the door. She drove to the small dojo and got out. There were the usual students, Maria, a college student who was a brown belt, Cameron, a fifty-year-old man who was a yellow belt, And Gage, a blue belt teen with serious issues. Every time he came to class, he was in one of three moods: angry, really angry, or livid. He came from a wonderful family. But he was always resentful. Jaya had enjoyed teaching the karate class with Sensei Green until that little brat came in. His family had made him so he would learn proper manners and learn to respect others. Jaya soon told Sensei Green that she had too many things going on to teach with him on a regular basis. But sometimes he would need her to come in again.

Jaya looked at Gage. His face was red. That probably meant he was livid. Oh goodie.

"Why are you even a black belt?" Gage whined

Jaya slowly turned and looked down at the boy with disdain, "Pardon?"

"You don't seem so tough to me." Gage said in a snarky tone.

Jaya smirked and raised an eyebrow, "Really Gage? Let me tell you something. I've been through more things then you can imagine. I've seen things that would destroy your fragile mind."

Gage scowled, "if you've been through so much, why don't you prove it."

Jaya looked at the clock. It was fifteen minutes until class ended, "Tell you what? I'll give you a demonstration afterwards."

Jaya felt the last shard of sanity within her yell at her to stop, to tell him to do pushups or some logical punishment, but that was only a shard, and her insanity was getting the better of her.

Gage shrugged, "Fine."

Jaya operated the last fifteen minutes of class without any snide comments from Gage. When class was over, she waved everyone goodbye and walked back into the dojo, Gage on her heels.

"What can you do huh? You can't do anything. I may be a blue belt, but at least I have a brain."

Jaya didn't respond. She just flicked her wrists, causing the knives she always carried in her sleeves to fly into her hands.

Gage stopped, transfixed by the blades. Then he realized that his life might possibly be in danger. He backed away, but a tendril of shadow slammed the door and locked it shut.

"Please don't hurt me." Gage stammered.

Jaya laughed and threw the knives. They whizzed past Gage's face and grazed his cheeks, but not enough to draw blood, just enough to scare the heck out of him. Two tendrils of shadows retrieved the knives for her and placed them in her hands.

She walked up to Gage who was shaking with fear, "If you ever disrespect me, or anyone who is of higher status than you, I will aim at your mouth next time. Do you understand?"

Gage whimpered out a feeble yes and Jaya opened the door. Gage ran away to go tell mommy about his substitute sensei being a freak. She tucked the blades back into her sleeves and grinned a wolf-like grin.

Her phone, which she kept in her karate bag, said that she had missed a call. She flipped it open and saw it was from Charles.

She hit the play button and a recorded message started to play, "_Hello Jaya. It's Charles. I've scheduled your flight for tomorrow at 7 am. Call me back as soon as possible."_

She dialed Charles's number; he picked up on the second ring, "Hey Charles."

"_Hello Jaya."_

" I got your message. I'm ready to go."

"_Great. See you soon."_

Jaya got into her car and drove off, leaving traumatized Gage behind.

Jaya woke up early that morning and drove to the airport. She got her ticket and headed over to security. She remembered the knives in her sleeves, and walked over to a corner and placed the knives in the corner, then manipulated the shadows surrounding the knives to cover them completely, blocking them from everyone's view. She walked through security and walked out on the other side. She pulled the shadows containing the knives towards her and slipped them into her sleeves. She walked onto the plane and took her seat near the front. As the plane filled up, Jaya was overjoyed to discover that no one had booked the seats next to her. She spread her belongings in the other two seats as the plane took off. The hours that followed were filled with the infant in the seat behind her wailing, two small children in the row across from her arguing which movie to watch, Dora, or Frozen. Then, they both starting singing their favorite songs from each one. By the time they arrived, she had 'Let it Go' stuck in her head. She grabbed her bags from the baggage claim and trudged out into the cold night. Charles and his student Jean Grey were waiting for her.

Jean took her bag and asked, "How was your flight?"

Jaya rubbed her temples, "I'm trying my best to forget it."

Charles chuckled and led them to the car. Jaya helped Charles into the passenger seat and then climbed into the back.

"We'll start your session as soon as we get to the mansion. Storm and Cyclopes are helping two mutants at the moment." Charles informed her from the front.

"Ok. Are they both going to be students?" Jaya asked.

"No. Only one. The other was much older." Charles replied.

There was a long silence, then, "How's the bagpipe going?"

"I've just gotten into grade three of piping. It's pretty cool." Jaya said.

"I would think that you would be better than that after forty or so years." Charles said raising an eyebrow.

Jaya shrugged, "I'm not very good at practicing and it takes a lot longer when you have to move a lot."

Charles nodded and there was no more talk until they reached the school. Storm and Cyclopes had returned and greeted her back. She walked inside.

She turned to Charles, "Can I see the new mutants?"

Charles nodded and led her to the hospital wing. He opened a door and they went inside. On a table in the middle of the room lay a girl. Her body was completely covered except her head. She was awake, and getting her various cuts treated.

Jaya walked over to her, "What can you do?" She asked curiously.

The girl looked at her, surprised, "I don't know. But whenever people touch me, they get hurt."

Jaya grinned, "Cool."

The girl scowled angrily, "No. It's NOT cool. How would you like not to be able to kiss anyone?"

"I would like that immensely."

Charles rolled over and placed a hand on Jaya's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Rogue. Jaya is mentally unstable. She didn't mean anything by it."

Rogue looked at Jaya with confusion, "She doesn't seem insane."

Jaya sighed and said, "I'm a really, really, REALLY good actress, OK?"

Charles gently led Jaya away to another room. In this room, there was a man lying on the table. He had a ridiculous hairdo and a scowl on his face.

Jaya frowned, "Was he electrocuted?"

"Pardon?" Xavier asked.

"What's wrong with his hair?"

"That's his style."

"Really?" Jaya said dubiously.

Charles sighed, "It's time for your session Jaya."

"M'kay." She poked the man's weird hair before turning and following Charles. He led her to his office and she sat down. He entered her mind and inspected the damage.

"Yep. You're losing control Jaya." He said as he placed memories and thoughts back into a sane pattern. "It's a huge mess in here."

Jaya grunted an apology as he put insane thoughts back under the few sane ones she had. After a few more hours of this, Charles left her mind.

"That should be good for now." Charles said, sighing tiredly.

Jaya stood up, "Thanks baldy."

Charles frowned, "Jaya…"

"Bye now." Jaya grinned and ran out the door. It was good to have her mind in working condition again. She still got urges to terrible things, or pointless things, but she could resist them now. She walked down the hall and then took the elevator down to the lower levels. She wanted to apologize to that girl. She was kinda rude to her. As she walked down the hall she heard a scuffle. Someone else was here. She stopped and listened. Whoever was there was trying not to be noticed. She heard someone breathing from a closet. She flicked her knives into her hands and sent shadows to open the door. The door opened to reveal the guy with the weird hair. She sent a tendril of shadows to snatch the guy's foot and suspend him in the air.

"Why are you sneaking around? Are you afraid of people laughing at your hair?"

He frowned, "What?"

"Your hair is ridiculous."

"What do you want with me?"

"I just wanted to know why your hair is so weird."

"Um…"

"It's ok. We all have bad hair days. What's your name?"

"Logan."

"Ok then." The shadow released Logan and he fell to the floor. She turned and started walking away.

"Wait!" Logan shouted. She turned around and looked at him.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Jaya Dusk. Follow me." She walked over to the elevator and they went up to the upper levels. She led him to her room and tossed him a hat.

"What's this for?"

"To cover your bad hair."

"I actually like my hair."

"Oh." Jaya frowned and led him out of her room to Charles's study.

When she brought Logan in, Charles smiled and said, "Hello my name is Charles Xavier. Would you like some breakfast?"

"YEAH!" Jaya shouted.

Charles sighed, "Jaya you may leave."

"Nope. Not until you get me breakfast."

Charles turned his attention to Logan, "Good morning Logan."

"Where am I?" Logan asked

"Westchester New York. My people brought you here for medical attention."

"I don't need medical attention." Logan sneered.

Charles smiled calmly, "No of course you don't."

Storm and Cyclopes entered the room, followed by Jean, "This is Aurora Monroe also known as Storm, and Scott Summers. We call him Cyclopes." Logan stared coldly at them. "They saved your life."

Jean entered also. Charles smiled. "I believe you've already met Dr. Jean Grey.

"Where's the girl?" Logan suddenly asked.

Oh, Rogue? She's here. She's fine." Charles said merrily.

"Really?" Logan asked, unconvinced.

"Yep. She got quite upset with me though." Jaya said, "I can show you to her if you like."

Charles sighed, "You don't even know where she is Jaya."

Jaya shrugged, "You could just tell me, Baldy."

Charles scowled, "Jaya, just because you have thrice the lifespan of any human does NOT mean that you can insult my old age. You are nearly as old as I am."

Jaya raised a finger, "But. I'm not bald." She grinned and skipped out of the room.

Logan was quite confused. He had woken up in a strange place with a strange woman injecting a strange substance into his arm. So naturally, he had started to choke her. When he saw that he was choking her, he let her go and started sneaking around. Then another strange woman found him and had hung him by the foot with a shadow. This woman called herself Jaya. Now he had learned that Jaya was in fact, almost as old as this strange, old, bald man. It was all very confusing. Logan watched as Jaya skipped out of the room.

He turned to the lady called Storm, "Storm right?"

She nodded.

"And Saber tooth? Come on. This has to be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." He snorted and turned to leave, but the guy, Cyclopes was blocking the door.

Logan grabbed him by his jacket and growled, "Cyclopes huh? Do you want to get out of my way?"

Cyclopes just sighed and looked over at Xavier.

"Logan." Xavier said, "It's been fifteen years hasn't it?"

Logan turned. How on earth did he know that?

"Traveling from place to place with no memory of who or what you are."

"Shut up." Logan whispered in disbelief, "How do you know that?"

_You're not the only one with gifts. _Said Xavier's voice in his head.

Logan looked at Xavier with newfound respect, "What is this place?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven: Uncovering the past.**

Logan had been filled in on the problem as hand as had Jaya. Jaya was doubtful that it was Logan that Erik, or as everyone was calling him these days, Magneto actually wanted him. It seemed like he couldn't really use Logan at all, unless he wanted to kill him. But Jaya kept this to herself for two reasons. One, she betted that they already had realized this and didn't need to be told the obvious again, and two, she was insane. She couldn't really be expected to think like a sane person.

Jean and Jaya were supposed to show Logan to his room. Actually, Jean was supposed to do it, but Jaya tagged along to find out more about Logan's hair.

"So do you always have those little tufts?"

Logan sighed, "Jaya I swear. Stop making fun of my hair right now or I'll gut you."

Jaya grinned, "I'd like to see you try."

"Besides. Your hair looks really weird." Logan teased.

Jaya scowled, "Don't make fun of my hair. It's fabulous."

"So is mine. I won't insult your hair if you won't insult mine."

Jaya sighed, "Fine."

Jean just rolled her eyes and smiled. They took Logan to the room across from Jaya's and down the hall from Jean's.

Jaya took out a candy cigar and started sucking on it. They looked pretty real so when Logan asked for one, Jaya handed him one.

He put it in his mouth, then spat it back out, "What the…"

"They're candy Cigars silly." Jaya said smiling.

"Why not real ones?" Logan asked.

Jaya's face hardened, "Because. There are so many children born with bad lungs. Or born with problems in their lungs. They'd give anything to have the lungs you have, and you're ruining them with big ugly cigars and cigarettes." With that Jaya spun on her heel and marched out the door, slamming it behind her.

Logan looked at Jean, eyebrows raised, "Wow. She's quite passionate about that."

Jean sighed, "Look Logan. The thing you need to know about Jaya is she's… different. For one thing, she's almost as old as the professor, and yet she looks and acts like a young person. Secondly, she's completely insane."

"Wait what? She doesn't seem that bad to me, just different." Logan said, unable to conceal his surprise.

"Well she is. Way back when the Professor was still a teen, a friend of his, Hank, created a cure for appearances. He tried it on himself and it backfired. It enhanced the mutated cells and made his mutation more powerful. When he told Jaya about it, she was eager to try it because she was a class one mutant at the time. She could barely do anything. Except she was really good with those knives. So she took some of the serum. It did enhance her power. She's a class four mutant now. But it came at a price. She absorbed too much darkness and shadows for her body to handle and her brain was damaged from it. She's really good at hiding it, but it's still there, under the surface."

Logan nodded slowly, and then said, "Well then. What's your mutation?"

Jean smiled, "I'm telekinetic. I can move things with my mind."

"What sorts of things?" Logan asked curiously.

The closet door swung shut all by itself, "All kinds of things."

Jaya woke in the night to hear Logan shout, "Somebody help!" She ran into the room to see Rogue standing in the middle of the room, Logan had stabbed her. Logan looked like he was struggling not to touch her. Jaya didn't care that she might get hurt. She rushed over to grab Rogue, when Rogue grabbed Logan's arm. Jaya watched in awe as the claw wounds started to disappear from Rogue's back. She heard a grunt of pain from Logan and ripped Rogue's hand from Logan's arm. Logan collapsed to the floor and Rogue looked at Jaya with a horrified expression, "It was an accident." She said breathlessly. She walked quickly past everyone and back to her room.

Jaya looked at Logan before coming to her senses, "JEAN!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.

Jean ran in, "Jaya did you do this?" She looked at Jaya, horrified.

"No. Of course not!" She told Jean what had happened as she helped Jean lift Logan back onto the bed.

"Wow. That's incredible." Jean said. Then she went to checking Logan's pulse and everything doctors usually do. Jaya left to go find Rogue. She found her in the kitchen, drinking hot cocoa. Jaya sat opposite of her and took out a candy cigar. She looked up to see Rogue watching her. She held out another candy cigar, "Want one?" She asked.

Rogue looked mortified.

"Relax they're candy." Jaya showed her the packet. Rogue shrugged and took one.

"Look. I'm sorry about what I said in the infirmary." Jaya said slowly, "My mind wasn't right. I couldn't think straight."

Rogue muttered a reluctant sounding 'It's ok.' And went back to staring into her mug.

Jaya sighed, "Don't be upset about tonight Rogue, you did what you did to survive."

Rogue nodded and asked hesitantly, "Is he OK?"

Jaya shrugged, "If you want a full description, go see Jean. But he's alive and he's going to stay that way. Let's leave it at that."

Rogue grinned and said softly, "Thanks Jaya."

Jaya smiled, "Don't thank me, thank Logan. If it were my bedroom you had snuck into, you'd be pulverized by darkness. And no amount of touching would have saved you."

Rogue nodded then asked, "The shadows in your room move when you're asleep?"

Jaya smiled a lopsided smile, "Now how would I know that? I'm always asleep when it happens. But I have my suspicions."

Jaya stood up and said, "You have a wonderful gift Rogue. Don't anything let you think otherwise."

Jaya walked back to her room.


	8. Chapter 8

Logan had been filled in on the problem at hand as had Jaya. Jaya was doubtful that it was Logan that Erik, or as everyone was calling him these days, Magneto actually wanted him. It seemed like he couldn't really use Logan at all, unless he wanted to kill him. But Jaya kept this to herself for two reasons. One, she betted that they already had realized this and didn't need to be told the obvious again, and two, she was insane. She couldn't really be expected to think like a sane person.

Jean and Jaya were supposed to show Logan to his room. Actually, Jean was supposed to do it, but Jaya tagged along to find out more about Logan's hair.

"So do you always have those little tufts?"

Logan sighed, "Jaya I swear. Stop making fun of my hair right now or I'll gut you."

Jaya grinned, "I'd like to see you try."

"Besides. Your hair looks really weird." Logan teased.

Jaya scowled, "Don't make fun of my hair. It's fabulous."

"So is mine. I won't insult your hair if you won't insult mine."

Jaya sighed, "Fine."

Jean just rolled her eyes and smiled. They took Logan to the room across from Jaya's and down the hall from Jean's.

Jaya took out a candy cigar and started sucking on it. They looked pretty real so when Logan asked for one, Jaya handed him one.

He put it in his mouth, then spat it back out, "What the…"

"They're candy Cigars silly." Jaya said smiling.

"Why not real ones?" Logan asked.

Jaya's face hardened, "Because. There are so many children born with bad lungs. Or born with problems in their lungs. They'd give anything to have the lungs you have, and you're ruining them with big ugly cigars and cigarettes." With that Jaya spun on her heel and marched out the door, slamming it behind her.

Logan looked at Jean, eyebrows raised, "Wow. She's quite passionate about that."

Jean sighed, "Look Logan. The thing you need to know about Jaya is she's… different. For one thing, she's almost as old as the professor, and yet she looks and acts like a young person. Secondly, She's completely insane."

"Wait what? She doesn't seem that bad to me, just different." Logan said, unable to conceal his surprise.

"Well she is. Way back when the Professor was still a teen, a friend of his, Hank, created a cure for appearances. He tried it on himself and it backfired. It enhanced the mutated cells and made his mutation more powerful. When he told Jaya about it, she was eager to try it because she was a class one mutant at the time. She could barely do anything. Except she was really good with those knives. So she took some of the serum. It did enhance her power. She's a class four mutant now. But it came at a price. She absorbed too much darkness and shadows for her body to handle and her brain was damaged from it. She's really good at hiding it, but it's still there, under the surface."

Logan nodded slowly, and then said, "Well then. What's your mutation?"

Jean smiled, "I can move things with my mind."

"What sorts of things?" Logan asked curiously.

The closet door swung shut all by itself, "All kinds of things."

Jaya woke in the night to hear Logan shout, "Somebody help!" She ran into the room to see Rogue standing in the middle of the room, her bare back had three large, claw like wounds. A trickle of blood seeped from one of the marks. Logan had stabbed her. Logan looked like he was struggling not to touch her. Jaya didn't care that she might get hurt. She rushed over to grab Rogue, but Rogue grabbed Logan's arm. Jaya watched in awe as the claw wounds started to disappear from Rogue's back. She heard a grunt of pain from Logan and ripped Rogue's hand from Logan's arm. Logan collapsed to the floor and Rogue looked at Jaya with a horrified expression, "It was an accident." She said breathlessly. She walked quickly past everyone and back to her room.

Jaya looked at Logan before coming to her senses, "JEAN!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.

Jean ran in, "Jaya did you do this?" She looked at Jaya, horrified.

"No. Of course not!" She told Jean what had happened as she helped Jean lift Logan back onto the bed.

"Wow. That's incredible." Jean said. Then she went to checking Logan's pulse and everything doctors usually do. Jaya left to go find Rogue. She found her in the kitchen, drinking hot cocoa with a shaky hand. Jaya sat opposite of her and took out a candy cigar. She looked up to see Rogue watching her. She held out another candy cigar, "Want one?" She asked.

Rogue looked mortified.

"Relax they're candy." Jaya showed her the packet. Rogue shrugged and took one.

"Look. I'm sorry about what I said in the infirmary." Jaya said slowly, "My mind wasn't right. I couldn't think straight."

Rogue muttered a reluctant sounding 'It's ok.' And went back to staring into her mug.

Jaya sighed, "Don't be upset about tonight Rogue, you did what you did to survive."

Rogue nodded and asked hesitantly, "Is he OK?"

Jaya shrugged, "If you want a full description, go see Jean. But he's alive and he's going to stay that way. Let's leave it at that."

Rogue grinned and said softly, "Thanks Jaya."

Jaya smiled, "Don't thank me, thank Logan. If it were my bedroom you had snuck into, you'd be pulverized by darkness. And no amount of touching would have saved you."

Rogue nodded then asked, "The shadows in your room move when you're asleep?"

Jaya smiled a lopsided smile, "Now how would I know that? I'm always asleep when it happens. But I have my suspicions."

Jaya stood up and said, "You have a wonderful gift Rogue. Don't anything let you think otherwise."

Jaya walked back to her room, leaving Rogue to ponder her words over a cup of cocoa and a candy cigar.


End file.
